10 months fulltime and still no edge

OK, I must be slow, but why did you go fulltime BEFORE finding an edge??? If you have enough capital, you can let others do the hard work for you....

 

try this for size:
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=38777

 

I am still just starting out but I have been running production for some months now.

I don't what kind of background you have; but I got a lot out of the book "Volatility Trading" by Euan Sinclair eventhough I don't do volatility trading at all.

It has got some condensed and very clear discussions of performance measuring and money / trade management / trade sizing.

If you have i.e. a system that is only long equities then you will have some market exposure and in a market like this the system will not fare very well eventhough it is actually sound.

Hence the "consider hedging the beta out".

I don't do the short time frames that you do.

But I have seen discussions of it and I got the feeling that it was not an equal game - that non retail traders had too big advantages with lower transaction costs and cheaper access to money.

Secondly short time frames lend itself to leverage (overleverage) - instead of considering stops and the like - go down in exposure and up in patience.

 

10 WHOLE MONTHS?

I can't believe that after 10 whole months you haven't figured this business out.



Good luck.

It takes years and years for the majority of people. You might be about 30% of the way through the learning curve, maybe less.

 

By fulltime I mean fulltime developing strategies not fulltime day trading. Living off my savings.

 

thanks I will start reading it right away.

 

LOL, I knew this one was coming.

 

thanks, I have just ordered the book from amazon.

 

Have you actually back tested your program over a wide range of instruments? What about time frame, how far beck did you go? What was your average drawdown?

The reason I ask is because this current market has been acting like a schizophrenic autistic midget on ecstacy and it could just be one of those periods in which you strategy of choice just doesn't work well.

BTW, how much of your savings are you risking? Since this is your savings, and not play money, anything greater than 2% is just batshit insane of you.:eek:

 

Ok, just curious, but why did you think that you would figure out this business?

Also, did you make a deadline when if not succeeded, you would give up?